730 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1204-1517-
and in 4000 years it grew to be the tree on which the Saviour was crucified.
The best executed of these biblical picture-books are those in Constance,^ St. Florian, Austria and in the libraries of Munich and Vienna. The name, hiblia pauperum^ may have been derived from Bonaventura or the statement of Gregory the Great, that pictures are the people's bible. In 1509, Lukas Kranach issued the passion in a series of pictures at Wittenberg.
A marked and most hopeful novelty in Germany were the numerous manuals of devotion and religious instruction which were issued soon after the invention of printing. This literature bears witness to the intelligent interest taken in religious training, although its primary purpose was not for the young but to furnish a guide-book for the confessional and to serve priest and layman in the hour of approaching death. ^ These books are, for the most part, injGermanp and probably had a wide circulation. They show common Christians what the laws of God are for daily life and what are the chief articles of the Church's faith. Some of the titles give us an idea of the intent, — The Soul's Guide, Der Seelenfuhrer ; Path to Heaven, Die Ilimmelstrasse ; The Soul's Comfort, Der Seelentrost : The Heart's Counsellor, Der Herzmahier ; The Devotional Bell, Das andacldige Zeitglocklein ; The Foot-Path to Eternal Bliss, Der Fusspfad zur eivigen Seligheit ; The Soul's Vegetable Garden, Das Scelemviirzgartlein ; The Soul's Vineyard, Der
1 The Constance copy in the Rosengarten museum contains many pictures, with explanatoiy notes on each page. I was particularly struck with the execution of Christ's entry into Jerusalem.
2 Bezold, p. 112, speaks of the number of these manuals as massenhaft and Dr. Barry, Cambr. Hist., I. 641, with rhetorical unprecision speaks of them as sold in all book-markets. See J. Geffcken : D. Bibelcatechinmen d. 15 Jahrh., Leipz., 1855. — B. Hasak : D. christl. Glanbe d. dtnitschen Volkes bi'im Srhlusse d. 3IA, Regensb., 18(38. — P. Bahlmann: Deutschlamrs kathol. Katechismcn bis zum Ende d. 16 Jahrh., Miinster, 1804. — F. Falk : D. dcutschen SterbebWchlcin bis 15:20, Col., 1890. Also Drei Beirhtbtichlein nnch den 10 Geboten, Miinster, 1907. Also D. Dnirk-k-unst im Dienste d. Kirche bis 1520, Col., 1879. — F. W. Battenberg : Joh. Wolff, Beichtblkhlein, Giessen, 1907. — Janssen-Pastor, I. 32 sqq. — Achelis • Prak. Tlieol. ,11. 497 sqq. — Wiegand : D. apost. Symbol im MA, p. 50 sqq.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 731
Weingarten der Seele ; The Spiritual Chase, Die geistliche Jagd. Others were known by the general title of Beicliibuchlein — libri di penitentia — or penitential books.
A compendious statement of their intent is given in the title of the Seelenfiihrer,^ namely " The Soul's Guide, a useful book for every Christian to practise a pious life and to reach a holy death." This literature deserves closer attention both because it represents territory hitherto largely neglected by students of the later Middle Ages and because it bears witness to the zeal among the German clergy to spread practical religion among the people. The Himmelwagen, the Heavenly Carriage, represents the horses as faith, love, repentance, patience, peace, humility and obedience. The Trinity is the driver, the carriage itself God's mercy.
With variations, these little books explain the 10 Commandments, the 14 articles of the Creed — the number into which it was then divided — the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, mortal sins, the 5 senses, the works of mercy and other topics. The SouVs Comfort^ which appeared in 16 editions, 1474-1523,^ takes up the 10 Commandments, 7 sacraments, 8 Beatitudes, 6 works of mercy, the 7 spiritual gifts, 7 mortal sins and 7 cardinal virtues and " what God further thinks me worthy of knowing." Most useful as this little book was adapted to be, it sometimes states truth under strange forms, as when it tells of a man whose soul after death was found, not in his body but in his money-chest and of a girl who, while dancing on Friday, was violently struck by the devil but recovered on giving her promise to amend her ways.
The Path to Heaven contains 52 chapters. The first two set forth faith and hope, the joys of the elect and the pains of the lost and it closes with 4 chapters describing a holy death, the devil's modes of tempting the dying and questions which are to be put to sick people. Dietrich Kolde's Mirror of a Christian Man, one of the most popular of the manuals, in the first two of its 46 chapters, took up the Apostles' Creed
1 Printed at Mainz, by Peter Schoffer, 1498, 47 pp.
2 See list of the editions in Bahlmann, p. 13 sq. The Cologne ed. of 1474 is in the London museum.